Building Relationships
I’ll preface this blog post on building relationships by saying that at my core I am a teacher. I have been trained to see goals as objectives.
In a lesson plan, a teacher always addresses the objective first. Then, they create a lesson around how to achieve the objective.
I’m turning 50 and I’ve noticed that I have become much more introspective as my birthday fast approaches. That brought to mind the following…
One of the things I value is transparency. I’m very fascinated with living well and it is the direction I am going to be taking my website and blog.
I’ve written a list of things that I consider to be included under the umbrella of wellness. Since I share my share my blog with you, I hope you feel compelled to add anything that my writing might inspire you to share with me.
It is as simple as replying to this the email when the blog is shared. With that said, I’m ready to tell you about a topic that interests me a lot.
Building Relationships by Hosting Socials
Even though I am a serious introvert, I do love getting to know people and, even better, meeting a person that really captures my heart.
When I was fresh out of college, I was really lucky because I had a group of work colleagues that were very deliberate about getting together regularly. To say it happened immediately wouldn’t be true, but we did have a coworker (she happened to also become my best friend) who never hesitated open her house to our staff for most of the year’s socials. The team teaching staff became family because of her consistent and generous hosting.
My favorite thing about her was that I was able to formulate (in my mind) a bullet point list on how and why her way to invite people was welcoming and low key.
RELATED | The Importance of Relationships
My first introduction to hosting socials was from my mom. She was the absolute hostess with the mostest.
Only, my mom goes BIG.
Besides being impeccably clean, there are candles and fresh bouquets all around the house. Oh, and the food is as gourmet as it gets. People daydream about her cooking.
Let me tell you though, it is a lot of work and enough to get someone to stop before they even start. Not to mention her attitude of stress leading up to the party…YIKES! (Sorry, Mom if you are reading this, but you already know it’s true!)
Here are some things to remember about building relationships that will help you keep it much more simple and less stressful:
Always remember that the big picture goal is to build good relationships and foster a community…not to impress or compete.
Please, start small!
And, don’t overthink it
One way I met some great people (I got this idea from my bestie’s neighbor) was to create “First Thursdays.” I chose Thursdays because our family would do Friday night dinner together and that was also a very sacred time and weekends tended to be very busy for my friends. Thursday had that Friday Eve vibe.
The important thing to do to start is do what works for you and get it started. YOU INVITE, YOU LEAD.
This quote resonates with me big time…
“Our INTENTION creates our reality.” ~ Wayne Dyer
Here are ways to make your intention of building relationships into a reality:
- Write a list of people you want to improve or build relationships with
- Pick a date and a time
- Remember that some people will connect at your gathering and forge relationships outside of your invitation…be generous with that outcome, too
- Be consistent
- Try to avoid gloomy or controversial topics or gossip
- Make it a potluck and or BYOB if serving food/drinks is too much
- Keep it simple unless you know you can handle more
People need community and a community needs its people. Be the one who builds it!
“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. ~ Rudyard Kipling
XO Monica
